


First Christmas

by Sodding_Malfoy (TheQueenAt17)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bad Parent Ted Wheeler, Christmas, Cute, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, Mileven, Multi, Secret Santa, im sorry this is so late im a bad secret santa, joyce/karen and jon/nancy/steve in the background, karen and ted going through divorce, lumax but barely, no mention of upside down, no ted wheeler, other kids in it but not much, teaching eleven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 23:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17354261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenAt17/pseuds/Sodding_Malfoy
Summary: El has never celebrated Christmas before - heck, she doesn't even know what Christmas is. To Hopper and the Wheelers, this just isn't good enough. To make up for so many years of lost time, Mike teaches Eleven traditions such as putting up a tree, buying presents and spending time with those you love.





	First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> My (very late) Secret Santa gift for Rachel aka suzie-do-you-copy on tumblr!

Eleven sat on one of the wooden chairs at the Wheelers’ dinner table, swinging her legs back and forth and listening to the soft thud her feet made when they bounced. Mike was in deep conversation with his mom, who looked much more radiant and less strained in the absence of Ted, and Nancy was helping Holly to eat her dinner – spaghetti, cut up small enough not to slide off her tiny plastic cutlery. As she watched them, she tried to wind her own spaghetti around her fork like Mike had shown her, and couldn’t help but feel as though she should be getting more help than Holly was. Her new dad was certainly not the world’s most adventurous cook, and she’d not had the chance to try very many new things before then, either. She was really pleased that Karen was helping her to broaden her horizons. El thought she wouldn’t be opposed to being part of the family for real, one day. 

She sighed. It certainly wasn’t helping that she kept getting distracted by the strange decorations hanging from the ceiling and the walls; there were ribbons of brightly coloured metal foil, and intricate shining shapes that twirled with every movement of air. She couldn’t begin to think of what they were for, and she didn’t want to ask if it wasn’t important. They weren't there usually, she was pretty sure. She would have noticed. Giving up, she sliced up her food and began to just copy Holly. At least she wasn’t making a mess. 

Mike tapped her thigh under the table and she started, looking up from her plate and re-joining the conversation. She wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “Hm?” 

“I was just asking, love, if you have any plans for over Christmas?” Karen smiled warmly. “I'm sure we can arrange something if not, but I can't bear the thought of you and Hopper just bouncing around in that little shack together alone. You’re both always welcome to spend Christmas with us!” 

Karen looked at her with kind eyes as she began to twirl the pasta effortlessly around her fork (oh, how El envied that), waiting for an answer. She had become much more attentive towards her children and was much more involved in their lives now that she was the only parent in the house. Mike had explained that his mom and dad were ‘having some time apart’, and that Karen wanted something called a ‘divorce’ – as far as Eleven could understand, it meant that Ted wasn’t going to live in the Wheeler house any more, but Mike would still have to go and see him sometimes. She was still quite confused about the whole thing, but from seeing how much happier the family was without him there, she couldn’t help thinking that it must be good. 

“I don’t understand,” El admitted honestly, brow slightly furrowed. “What’s Christmas?” 

Everyone at the table (save Holly, who was mashing up food with her hands) turned to look at her incredulously, and Mike squeezed her elbow in sympathy. Karen, who had been excited only a moment ago, now seemed deeply sad. “Oh, you poor girl, I’m sorry. I forgot you hadn’t had one before. Has Hop not explained it to you? Or Mike?” 

El shook her head, confused, and Mike dropped his forehead into his hands. “I’m so sorry, El! I really was going to, I promise, I just kept forgetting.” 

“Well never mind, it's not too late to explain now. I’ll be having words with that dad of yours when he arrives... But, anyway, without getting into the religious side of it that would take me hours, Christmas is all about having a great time with your family. And of course, for you, your family is all of us! People usually get together to decorate the house and have lovely meals around the table, but the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself and feel loved.” 

Eleven sniffed as tears pricked behind her eyes at Karen’s wilful embrace of her into the family. “It sounds wonderful!” 

“It will be, El, I’m going to make sure of it,” Mike promised, grabbing her hand that was laid on the table, eyes shining. “I’ll come over tomorrow and help you do some decorations – if that’s alright, mom? Christmas is only a week away, after all.” 

Karen wrung her hands together in excitement. “Of course, you can! If you hadn’t suggested it, I would’ve insisted! I don’t suppose Hop has anything stored away at home?” 

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” said Nancy, “but I have some things left over upstairs that you can take over, Mike. And we have our old tree in the loft too, since we replaced it with a bigger one.” 

El beamed, overwhelmed. “Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank us yet,” Nancy said, standing up to collect everyone’s empty plates. 

“Yeah El,” Mike agreed, “wait and see what we can do first.” 

They were interrupted by a knock at the door, and Karen stood to answer it. “That’ll be your dad then, hun. We’ll have to save the trifle for next time.” 

She opened the front door to see Hopper in his work uniform, clutching his hat in his hand and shivering slightly in the cold December air. He politely declined the invitation to come inside. 

“Sorry, ‘fraid I can’t this time. I need to get on home and make myself some dinner before it gets too late. Has she had a good time?” 

Karen tutted, feigning offence. “She always does, Hop, what are you trying to say? 

“Nothing at all, of course,” he laughed. 

“I should think not, you lout. Always taking me for granted. ” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Not to mention that your poor girl didn’t know about Christmas! I had to explain it to her, she was ever so sad to have not known. Poor thing.” 

Hopper slapped himself on the forehead. “You know, with all that’s been going on lately I completely forgot about Christmas! Don’t worry, between us all we can make sure she has a good one.” 

“She’s going to have the best one,” Mike interjected as he and El came up behind Karen. 

“Too right.” He agreed softly. “You ready to go?” 

El nodded, thanked the Wheelers for their hospitality, and they left hand in hand, climbing into the car and driving away into the night. 

*** 

El hated being home alone, but she knew that sometimes it was necessary. She couldn’t spend all of her time with her friends when Hopper was at work – a lot of the time they were busy or at school, and she had to practice being comfortable in solitude. That didn’t stop her from feeling lonely though, or from being bored. She’d already gone through the worksheets she had to do for that day too – and they were helping a lot in terms of reading, writing and vocabulary, but not enough so that she could comfortably read one of the books laying around the house. She was sick of watching TV, she’d run out of hairstyles to try in the mirror and there were only so many records in their collection. She laid on her back on the sofa, counting the aertex bubbles on the ceiling; 391, bored, 392, bored, 393, bored, 39— 

There was a rumble of an engine outside and she shot up to look out of the window. She beamed at what she saw – Karen behind the wheel of her car with an ecstatic Mike in the passenger seat, and a whole lot of leaves coming out of the back windows. Throwing open the front door, she ran out to meet them as Karen removed the key from the ignition and they began to unload. 

“Mike!” 

“Eleven!” 

Karen smiled to herself when she saw them rush to into an embrace, and put her hand to her chest. It was as though they hadn’t seen each other in months, even though they all knew it had barely even been a day. She remembered that feeling, being so infatuated that a second apart from her love felt like too long – she just hoped they wouldn’t turn out like her. Looking at them, she knew they wouldn’t. They would never fall out of love like herself and Ted had. She also hoped that her own rekindled romantic life wouldn’t fizzle out so spectacularly. 

She opened the back door of the car, extracting a large cardboard box from the foot well. Nudging open the front door with a foot, she heaved the box inside and dumped it on the table, then shook out her sore arms. 

“There you go guys, a few decorations to go around the house. We’ve brought a tree along too, Eleven dear, just a synthetic one – would you both help me grab the bits from the car?” 

Eleven nodded excitedly and bounded over to the rear car door, opening it up and grabbing a handful of branches. Mike did the same, and after a few trips all of the pieces were laid out on the living room floor. Karen brought in the stand and, after much deliberation, put it down in the corner. 

“It’s looking better already,” Mike said. “Let’s sort the branches into piles from shortest to longest, then we’ll be able to see which layer they’re supposed to go in.” 

Eleven shrugged. “You’re the boss!” 

“Alright then my loves, if you’re alright I’m going to have to head off. Nancy’s got Holly at the moment but she’s going out soon with those two friends of hers. Nancy, your Byers boy and that Steve, what a trio they make, eh?” Karen dusted off her hands and jangled her keys, kissing both Mike and Eleven on their foreheads. “You two be good, you hear?” 

Mike rolled his eyes. “Yes mom. And thanks for the help!” 

“Don’t mention it... Just make the house lovely and Christmassy before Hopper gets home, yeah?” 

She waved and closed the front door behind herself, and then they heard the car start up outside. When she was gone, Mike turned to Eleven, who was carefully integrating a long branch into the bottom layer of the tree stand. 

He sighed. “El, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. My mom just didn’t want to see you miss out.” 

“Hm? No, I want to.” She replied earnestly, then picked up another branch and slotted it in. “I’ve had enough experiences stolen from me already, I want to know what this is like.” 

He smiled sadly, then took El’s face in his hands, planting a feather-light kiss onto her forehead. 

“It makes me so angry when I think of the life you could’ve had, that Brenner kept you from. I’m never going to let anything bad happen to you again, El. Even though you’re more than capable of protecting yourself.” 

“Promise?” 

“Promise.” He stood and looked to the top of the tree. “Now, how are we going to get the branches in all the way up there?” 

El grinned, wide, then stood up next to Mike with an arm outstretched. “I can do it!” 

She levitated the last few pieces into place, as Mike went over to look in the box on the table. Inside were a multitude of shiny things, including baubles, tinsel and lovely strings of beads. He took another look at the tree, lips pursed, then grabbed a few decorations. 

They worked together to wind the tinsel around the tree, Mike standing on one side and passing it to Eleven on the other. Each time they passed it, their fingers brushed. Neither of them were going to pretend it was an accident. Mike put baubles on the higher branches of the tree and Eleven decorated the bottom, then they stood back to admire their handiwork. 

“Are we done?” El asked. “It looks better than I thought it would.” 

“Almost. Just one more thing...” 

He reached into the box again and retrieved a beautiful golden star, which he handed to El before effortlessly picking her up to sit on his shoulders. She leaned forwards to place it on the very top, and when she looked down she could see her boyfriend’s face beaming up at her. She smiled back. 

“Now are we done?” 

“Yeah, now we’re done.” 

“Good.” Mike put her down, then she threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you.” 

She rose up onto her tiptoes and lifted her chin, resting a kiss chastely on Mike’s soft lips. He smelled of cinnamon and pine needles, and she felt him smile as he kissed back. 

“I love you,” he sighed dreamily, and she kissed him again to convey the words she couldn’t say. 

Mike went to sit down on the couch and El curled up next to him, her head resting on her shoulder. Mike picked up the television remote. 

“Shall I see if there’s a Christmas film on?” 

“There’s Christmas films?” 

He nodded and used his spare hand to rest just above El’s knee, stroking his thumb back and forth. “How about this one?” 

He clicked over onto ‘Santa Claus: The Movie,’ and then had to explain who Santa was and why children believed in him. Eleven was understandably confused by the concept – comically so – and when Hopper walked in through the front door, Mike was still laughing. 

“Oh, hello Mike. I didn’t expect you to be here. What’s going on?” 

Eleven separated from her boyfriend at the sight of her dad, and pointed to the tree. “We’ve been decorating, look!” 

“Oh wow,” exclaimed Hopper, finally seeing it, “you have indeed! It looks awesome!” 

“You like it?” 

Hopper sighed and took off his hat, putting it down on the entryway table. “Yes pumpkin, I love it. I’m sorry for not being the one to do it with you – heck, I didn’t even get us a tree. I work too much, I know that. I’ll make it up to you over Christmas, I promise.” 

“Thanks, dad,” El smiled with tears in her eyes. 

“Oh! In fact – hold on,” Hopper walked past them and threw open his bedroom door, rooting around in his drawers. 

Mike and El looked at each other in confusion. Hopper returned with a badly wrapped present in his hand. 

“There you go, a package for under the tree. Its not much, but I think you’ll like it.” 

“What, for me?” her eyebrows furrowed. “Why?” 

Mike stepped in before he could answer. “It’s a Christmas present, El! People get them for their friends and family and put them under the tree, then they open them on Christmas day. You don’t have to get me one though, it’s enough of a present just to have you home.” 

“Like Santa was doing in that film?” 

“Yeah, like that!” 

El nodded, deep in thought. “Have you got me a present?” She thought of all the pocket money she’d saved up since coming to live with Hopper, and how happy buying gifts would make her friends. 

“Well, yes, but–” 

“Well I’m getting you one too.” She looked up at Hopper. “And for you, dad.” 

“Definitely not, that’s nonsense. I’ll take you out to town tomorrow to get something for your friends, but don’t you be getting anything for me.” 

She leapt to her feet and hugged him, burning her face in his chest with a muffled “thank you.” 

Hopper stroked the top of her head absentmindedly, and his lips jerked as he smiled wistfully down at her. Sara had used to hug him like this, albeit she had been a bit shorter, and he couldn’t help but be reminded of her. If not for the colour of her hair, he could have mistaken Eleven for his late daughter. He hugged her closer and closed his eyes against a tear. 

He’d taken Sara for granted, and she was taken away all too soon. He wouldn’t make the same mistake with El; no more staying late at work, and no more excuses. She was too special for that. 

He shook his head and looked over at Mike, who was still sitting on the sofa and fidgeting as though he wasn’t sure how to act. At least he had been taking care of her, when Hopper hadn’t. He didn’t doubt at all that Mike loved her, and didn’t think for a second that we would hurt her in any way. Despite his own romantic landscape seeming more dismal than a graveyard, he was happy that El had found someone she could share her life with, even if they were only young. 

“It’s getting quite late now, son. Do you want to stay for tea?” 

Mike started, as though he hadn’t expected to be addressed. “Oh, I’d better not,” he looked out of the window at the darkened sky. “Mom will be wondering where I am.” 

“Alright, I’ll give you a lift of you’d like. Its a bit late to be walking, and I bet your mother will be busy getting Holly to bed.” 

“That would be great, thank you.” He smiled gratefully. “I didn’t mean to be here this long.” 

Hopper turned and retrieved his keys from the hook he’d left them on. “Are you coming, or staying here?” He asked Eleven. 

“I’ll come.” 

They all piled in the car, the two lovebirds predictably deciding to sit in the back together. Hopper could see them holding hands in the mirror, and he rolled his eyes to himself. He could remember when he and Diane had been like that, years ago. It hadn’t worked out for him, or for most couples he knew, but he hoped that it would be a different story for Mike and Eleven. 

“How’s your mom been anyway, Mike? She holding up okay?” 

Mike shrugged and moved his hand in a so-so motion. “Mostly, but she still misses Dad sometimes. We try not to bring him up. She’s been a lot better since she started spending more time with Mrs Byers though, I’m glad they’re friends now.” 

“Heh, yeah. Great friends, aren’t they,” Hopper laughed under his breath. How oblivious kids could be – if he could guess, he’d say that Karen and Joyce were becoming much closer than just friends. But that was none of his business. “Well I’m glad that she’s got people to talk to. She could do a lot better than Ted – no offence of course.” 

“Oh none taken, I agree with you there.” 

They swung around a corner and Mike’s street became illuminated in the headlights. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it, but turned around at the last second. 

“El, come to my house tomorrow, when you’re free. I have something else to show you.” 

Eleven nodded, intrigued. “Alright, I’ll come right over after I’ve been shopping.” 

“See you then.” He leaned over and kissed her quickly, shouted “thanks Hopper!” and then disappeared into his house.

**Author's Note:**

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